Pumping winds rolled into San Francisco Bay today for the second day of the Nationals. By 12noon it was blowing 15-20 knots and the fleets got underway.
Devon Boulon and Micah Buzianis duked it out first heat, with Devon taking a win and Micah getting second and local Mike Z coming in third.
In the other heat, Sam Ireland, Jimmy Diaz and Phil McGain put on a tactical show. Sam taking control early in the heat followed by Diaz. McGain after round the windward mark in third, went outside on the down wind to round the bottom mark ahead of both of them. On the upwind, Ireland took over again with a brilliant tack inshore to find the right lift. McGain rounded second just ahead of Diaz. Both Ireland and McGain headed outside to catch the flood tied and more wind pressure, with McGain just rounding in front of Ireland at the bottom mark. Sam tacked inshore again and found the magic puff that took him to the finish line just ehead of McGain who came in on starboard tack.
In race 6, the first start saw Buzianis take off on port and crossed the fleet. McGain who started on starboard rounded the top mark a few board lengths behind Buzianis and just ahead of Boulon. With Boulon and McGain firing off downwind it was on for the race to the bottom mark, but Boulon’s harness blew up and was never seen again for the that race . Micah stretched his lead to finish a comfortable first, with McGain in second and Mike Z in third. Devon was back at the beach, didn’t want to get stretched out and race without a harness. Although I saw Robby Naish do it, many times. Pro’s aren’t like they used to be. Ha ha!
In the other heat, it was Jimmy Diaz and Sam Ireland going at it again. This time it was Diaz who showed the better control and superior speed in the overpowering conditions. Jimmy lead from start to finish, with Sam finishing close in second and Seth Besse back in third.
Now the fleet was split into Gold and Silver. The winds had also picked up to 20-30 knots and now all sailors were on their smallest rigs.
Buzianis got a clean start in the Gold fleet, but it wasn’t easy as McGain rounded 3 seconds behind with Diaz and Ireland all within 10 metres. Off downwind saw Micah stretch his lead, Diaz passed McGain and Ireland was pushing all three sailors infront of him. During the second upwind, Micah pushed hard to retain his lead, with McGain finally getting out from under Diaz, and forced Jimmy into a tack, which paid off for him. Micah rounded first, Jimmy just edged out Phil and Sam was close behind in 4th. Devon having a harder time in the strong winds was back in 5th place.
Buzianis won the race, Diaz second, McGain third, Ireland 4th and Boulon in 5th. 6th place was the best local Rob Hartman and Seth Besse came in 7th.
After 7 races.
Buzianis- 8
McGain- 10
Ireland- 12
Boulon- 13
Diaz- 15.
Tomorrow we expect at least 2 races and perhaps a long distance in the afternoon. Slalom seedings will be worked on tomorrow, so Friday could be the day for the most spectacular part of the event, downwind slalom.
